The inaugural Frühlingsfest was conducted in May 2021 in downtown Seymour.
Tribune file photo
As Sonnie Hardwick and Jessica Hancock went from booth to booth at the end of the inaugural Frühlingsfest, the vendors said they wanted to be on the calendar for the next spring festival.
Some of the craft vendors and musicians wanted to be involved again, too.
When the second edition occurs May 13 and 14 in downtown Seymour, the public will have an opportunity to take in all of the good food, crafts and music once again.
“This part of it has gotten so easy because they just love the festival and they want to come back,” said Hardwick, who is on the festival committee with Hancock and other members of the event organizer, Knights of Columbus Council 1252.
“Those guys definitely are like, ‘We want our spots,’” Hancock said. “It’s a good fundraiser for them. We get to not only help us but help other people in the community, too, with their fundraisers. They give us feedback, and we make changes based on that. If we can make something better or easier, we’ll do so.”
This year’s festival, which has free admission and is open to all ages, will have 12 food vendors set up in the B and O Railroad Parking Lot
behind the Knights of Columbus at 118 E. Second St. They will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. both days.
Repeat food vendors include Knights of Columbus, Mr. Beefy’s, Lazy J’s Kettle Corn, Sati Babi, Enter His Courts Pommes Frites, Dudleytown Conservation Club, Rolling Pig Pin Bakery and Bob and Kev’s BBQ.
Other food booths include Miss Piggy, Schwätzer’s German Restaurant, Kovener’s Korner and Psi Iota Xi sorority. The latter two are new this year. Kovener’s Korner will have ice cream and shaved ice, and the sorority will have strawberry shortcake.
“Some of the vendors that people really enjoy seeing at the Oktoberfest … they can enjoy them more than one time a year,” Hancock said.
Bartholomew County Beverage will man the beer garden with a variety of domestic and craft beers, seltzers and wine. No coolers will be allowed on the festival grounds.
Indianapolis Avenue up to East Second Street will be closed to allow the craft vendors to set up on the street. So far, vendors selling beard products, cookies, handmade signs and decor, handmade hammers and hatchets and wood-burned plaques, clocks and decor plan to be there. Others may be added.
Also, Mason Lauster will do face painting, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1925 will sell poppies and have children’s games and a coloring contest with prizes. The contest is for ages 5 and up with three cash prizes awarded in each of the five age groups.
The live music stage will be set up on the east end of the parking lot. The Ertels (6 to 8 p.m.) and Bad Medicine (8 to 11 p.m.) will perform May 13, and Patrick Boyd and Family (2 to 4 p.m.), Forrest Turner (4 to 6 p.m.), Off the Hook (6 to 8 p.m.) and The Jackson Way (8 to 11 p.m.) will be onstage May 14.
A tent with tables and chairs will be set up in the middle of the parking lot, and people may bring their own chairs to enjoy the live music.
New to the festival is an opportunity for local businesses to become an event sponsor. Hancock said 94% of all monies made by this event and 94% of all fundraising efforts by Council 1252 go straight back into the community, and the sponsorship dollars will help fund some of the items used for the festival.
The four levels are $250 (ticket booths and portable toilets), $500 (beer tents and advertising), $1,000 (May 13 entertainment) and $1,500 (May 14 entertainment).
Anyone interested in sponsorship opportunities should send a message via facebook.com/thekofcdude.
“We’ve had a good response with that, so we’re very pleased with that,” Hancock said.
This will be the third festival organized by the local Knights of Columbus.
In the fall of 2020, Spätsommer Fest offered attendees a taste of the annual Seymour Oktoberfest, which was canceled that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That also allowed local nonprofit organizations and other vendors an opportunity to earn money.
Following the success of that event, Council 1252 knew it also wanted to do a spring festival. That’s how Frühlingsfest was born.
For now, Spätsommer Fest was a one-time event because the Oktoberfest returned in 2021.
“When we started this whole situation, what we realized is that obviously, this is another good way to bring something fun to the community in the spring, which we don’t have a lot of spring events (locally),” Hancock said. “I just think it worked out really well. People like it, and our vendors, they love to come back, and I just think it’s a nice way to kick off summer. What we anticipate is it’ll be a yearly spring event.”
Organizers are hoping for great weather and a great community turnout.
“The community has never let us down,” festival committee member Philip Hardwick said.
“They have been so supportive of us,” Sonnie Hardwick said. “A lot of families like it because it is a family event, so you can bring your kids, listen to music, have a beer and then kids can play games, so they want to come.”
If you go
What: Knights of Columbus Council 1252’s second Frühlingsfest
When: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. May 13 and 14
Where: B and O Railroad Parking Lot in downtown Seymour behind the Knights of Columbus building off of East Second Street
Who: Nearly 20 food and craft vendors will be set up; open to all ages except beer garden is for 21 and older
Cost: Admission is free
Details: There also will be live music, face painting, children’s games and a coloring contest
For information or to be an event sponsor: Send a message via facebook.com/thekofcdude